Editing Problem solving (section)

=== Avoiding barriers by changing problem representation ===
The disruption caused by the above cognitive biases can depend on how the information is represented:<ref name="Walinga, Jennifer 2011" /> visually, verbally, or mathematically. A classic example is the Buddhist monk problem:

{{quote|A Buddhist monk begins at dawn one day walking up a mountain, reaches the top at sunset, meditates at the top for several days until one dawn when he begins to walk back to the foot of the mountain, which he reaches at sunset. Making no assumptions about his starting or stopping or about his pace during the trips, prove that there is a place on the path which he occupies at the same hour of the day on the two separate journeys.}}

The problem cannot be addressed in a verbal context, trying to describe the monk's progress on each day. It becomes much easier when the paragraph is represented mathematically by a function: one visualizes a [[Graph of a function|graph]] whose horizontal axis is time of day, and whose vertical axis shows the monk's position (or altitude) on the path at each time. Superimposing the two journey curves, which traverse opposite diagonals of a rectangle, one sees they must cross each other somewhere. The visual representation by graphing has resolved the difficulty.

Similar strategies can often improve problem solving on tests.<ref name="Kellogg, R. T. 2003" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vlamings |first1=Petra H. J. M. |last2=Hare |first2=Brian |last3=Call |first3=Joseph |year=2009 |title=Reaching around barriers: The performance of great apes and 3–5-year-old children |journal=Animal Cognition |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=273–285 |doi=10.1007/s10071-009-0265-5 |pmc=2822225 |pmid=19653018}}</ref>